Patton Museum Reopens!

We recently blogged about the General Patton Memorial Museum at Chiriaco Summit, California, and in that blog, we mentioned the museum was closed due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  Well, that’s changed…I had a nice conversation a couple of days ago with Margit Chiriaco Rusche (Co-Founder and President of the Museum) and she told me the Patton Museum is now open.  I’m going to plan a ride out there as soon as the heat breaks (watch the ExNotes blog for more details), and if you’d like to go, let us know.

Margit asked me to mention the Patton Museum’s USO Room and theatre, the lecture series, and the library.  These are important parts of the Museum and we’re happy to do so.

The Patton Museum has hosted two years of lecture series and Margit tells me they were well attended.  Prior presenters have included the Superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park and a key speaker from the Metropolitan Water Department (refer to our earlier blog for the story about the Patton Museum’s Big Map, donated by the MWD), as well as several others.   The lecture series was suspended during the pandemic, but it will resume in 2021.  My good buddy Phil may be one of the speakers next year on his research and his new book, Letters from Uncle Dave.  We’ll have an upcoming blog on Phil’s new book in the near future, too, so as always, keep an eye on the ExNotes blog.

The USO Room presents the story of the United Service Organizations, a group focused on keeping military morale high.  This exhibit features exhibits on Al Jolson and Bob Hope, two major forces in the USO’s entertainment world.  The USO Room has the original juke box used at Camp Young’s entertainment center (Camp Young was the headquarters camp for the Desert Training Center, and it was located at Chiriaco Summit).

The Patton Museum library contains a large book collection, along with notebooks chronicling the lives and activities of World War II veterans (the Museum currently has over a hundred of these, and more are being added).  It includes tactical maps used by Patton during World War II, and a collection of rare books.  The library is also a source of genealogy information.

If you would like to learn more about the General Patton Memorial Museum, Chiriaco Summit, and the Chiriaco family, in addition to our earlier blog on the Patton Museum you might want to pick up a copy of Chiriaco Summit, a book that tells the story well. You should buy a copy.  It’s a great read.

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